


simplicity.

by quesadelia



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Domesticity, First Kiss, Love Confessions, M/M, Romance, feat. Fun Facts About The Wizard Of Oz
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:54:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23791129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quesadelia/pseuds/quesadelia
Summary: He supposed it was only appropriate, then, that one of the most significant and life-altering events of his young life should occur in the most mundane and unremarkable way possible.
Relationships: Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Comments: 12
Kudos: 277





	simplicity.

**Author's Note:**

> sometimes, you’re stuck in quarantine for weeks, so you finally watch a show you’ve only ever seen screenshots of, and it makes you so soft you write fanfiction for the first time in years

Enrolling in Greendale Community College was supposed to be the safe, ordinary option. No stressing to compete with jocks twice his size who were aiming to be recruited to the NFL before finishing junior year; no expectations of extraordinary academic performance. Just showing up to whatever mediocre classes were on the docket for a liberal arts degree, making a couple friends whom he’d drift away from within a year after graduation, entering a few relationships only to exit them in an appropriately dramatic fashion, and doing his best to keep his head above water until he figured out what exactly he was supposed to actually do afterwards.

That, apparently, was not at all what the universe had in mind for Troy Barnes.

Of course, he had no real frame of reference for what the average college experience was supposed to entail - outside of TV and films, where outlandish occurrences were probably normal. And to be fair, he was ticking off some of the cliche college checklist, such as joining the football team, getting dating advice from the wrong people, and grasping about as much Spanish as a Mexican toddler. But coaxing a lab rat out of an air vent by singing from the soundtrack of a Don Bluth movie? Getting roped into an all-out brawl and celebrating your victory by letting your best friend dress you up as a Christmas tree? Practically dying not once, but twice in a campus wide, day long, paint splattered battle royale? Not to mention whatever the hell happened at the Halloween party that had left him with visible, unexplained bruises in the morning. By the end of sophomore year, Troy was more shocked by the boring days than anything Greendale could throw at him.

He supposed it was only appropriate, then, that one of the most significant and life-altering events of his young life should occur in the most mundane and unremarkable way possible.

It happened on a regular night at casa de la Trobed (or would it now be Trobedie, to be inclusive of their newest roommate?), with Troy and Abed seated in front of the television watching _The Wizard Of Oz_. Abed had started a film history class that semester that had gotten him on a classics kick. While Troy typically preferred movies produced within the last half century, he’d reluctantly admit to getting a touch teary eyed during a 1920’s silent melodrama Abed had to watch for a homework assignment.

“How did I never notice they both have Boston accents?” Troy wondered aloud, gesturing to the screen as the Scarecrow and Tin Man desperately screamed for help as their companions slept in the poppy field. “It’s kind of ruining the immersion.”

“It does create an interesting hole in the lore,” Abed responded, barely glancing away from the screen. “Is Oz a far off, magical land, or is it in coastal Massachusetts? And if it was all a dream, when would a Kansan farm girl like Dorothy have even heard that dialect? Humans cannot dream of faces they’ve never seen, so it tracks to assume we can’t dream in accents we’ve never heard.”

“Maybe she just hit her head that hard?” Troy offered.

“Perhaps,” Abed said, before feeding himself a handful of popcorn. “Or, more likely, Victor Fleming was too busy giving the Tin Man aluminum lung, feeding his sixteen year old leading lady cigarettes, and dumping asbestos all over the soundstage to hire a dialect coach.”

Troy laughed at that, and Abed flashed the tiniest smile before locking his eyes back on the screen. Laughter always came easily to Troy when he was with Abed. Others often missed the subtle humor in Abed’s words, and if they laughed at all, it was usually the jeering, unforgiving laughter that he had grown used to growing up. But Troy was able to parse the rapid, monotonous dialogue his best friend would occasionally pipe up with, and could appreciate the cleverness often found in his words.

The movie carried on with the pair keeping relatively quiet, save for Troy muttering “How cool would it be if horses could really do that,” as the party toured the Emerald City in a carriage pulled by the Horse of Many Colors, and pointing out that the Witch’s soldiers sound like they’re chanting “oreo” as they march, which the two shared a small chuckle over.

“You and I would make a good Scarecrow and Tin Man,” Abed stated plainly, as the Wonderful Wizard of Oz finally bestowed upon the group the blessings they’d sought out for the last eighty or so minutes. “Maybe we could do that for Halloween some time.”

“You calling me brainless?” Troy asked, though his smirk betrayed any hint of actual offense taken.

“The Scarecrow was actually smart the entire time, that’s sort of his thing,” Abed began to explain. He paused as the Wizard handed the Scarecrow his diploma, and the Scarecrow showed off his newfound intelligence by explaining the Pythagorean Theorem. “Except right there, he actually got all of that wrong. I still don’t understand how nobody caught that.” Troy had not caught that either, but he kept that to himself. “He demonstrates throughout the film that he’s the most common-sensed, logical, and quick-witted of the group, he only lacked self confidence, which the Wizard gives him in the form of the diploma. Even though he immediately blows it.”

Pleased with the explanation, Troy decided to run with the idea. “This would be such a great group costume! Annie would be Dorothy, obviously. Pierce could be the Lion. Shirley and Britta would be Glinda and the Witch.”

“Jeff could be the Wizard. He certainly has a big enough head.”

“I think he’d maybe even agree to be Toto, if Annie was Dorothy.”

The two chuckled at the thought of their vainest friend done up in dog ears and a tail, obediently heeling at Annie’s side. She’d only need to put on her Disney-worthy pout to get him to agree to the getup. Pierce would surely make a “friend of Dorothy” joke about him, which would likely go over most of the group’s heads.

“So if the Scarecrow was smart the whole time, the Tin Man had a heart the whole time, right?”

“Not literally, because he’s still made of tin, but that’s the moral for each of them, yes. The Scarecrow was always sensible, the Lion was always brave, and the Tin Man was always loving.”

Troy nodded along. “You’d be a good Tin Man,” he agreed.

“I suppose so. I’m not sure I could chop a tree down, though.”

Another heartfelt laugh. “I love you, man,” Troy said, his fingers chasing out the last few pieces of popcorn in the bowl.

Again, a small, sincere smile from Abed. “I love you too, Troy,” he replied, before fixing his attention to the screen once more. As the ending credits began to roll, Abed set to work putting the DVD back in its box, and the box back into its place on the shelf.

It happened so naturally and easily that it took Troy a few seconds to realize it had even happened at all. It felt like just another regular dialogue between the two, lacking the drama and weight of a more cinematic love confession. And Abed hadn’t even used the opportunity to make a reference (or had he? Surely Gabriella had said that at some point in the _High School Musical_ trilogy. He’d have to rewatch them, for clarification’s sake).

Troy had never really given any thought to his sexuality. He definitely liked women, that was certain. He’d always been able to recognize and acknowledge when a man was attractive, but who with eyes couldn’t? Britta occasionally complimented his confidence in his masculinity, particularly when it came to his interactions with Abed. But Troy usually couldn’t wrap his head around the idea of stifling his love for his best friend because it might make him seem “feminine.” And he’d never felt any need to sit himself down and label that love. He figured it wouldn’t be any different if Abed were a woman, or if Troy was himself. He just loved Abed, his favorite person, and however that happened to manifest was how it was meant to be.

The strangest - and somehow most thrilling - part of the exchange was its simplicity. Friends tell friends they love each other, even Jeff had come to accept that. But the warm feeling that had welled up in Troy’s chest reassured him that this was something more than that. This wasn’t the way either of them would tell Shirley, or even Annie that they love her. This was different. This didn’t require some deep personal digging to realize, it was just something Troy figured he’d always known. It was _always_ Abed.

The rest of the night was business as usual, save for the delightful tingle that had inhabited Troy’s extremities. Despite always having something they could talk about, silences between the two were just as easy. They’d been settled into their bunks in the blanket fort for only a few minutes before Abed spoke up. “Troy?”

“Yeah?” Troy spoke almost directly upward, like the sound could travel through Abed’s mattress and pillow directly into his ear. (“That’s not how soundwaves work,” Abed had tried to explain once, but Troy still wanted to believe).

“I feel like I should clarify, before we end up in an embarrassing misunderstanding plot line,” Abed said, before his head appeared hanging upside down off the edge of his bunk. “I meant that romantically. Earlier.”

Troy had never seen that endearing edge of timidity in his normally confident, stoic friend. The subtle blush that colored his cheeks was cute (even if it was just from being upside down). “Me too,” he assured, sitting up so they were on the same level.

“Cool. Cool cool cool,” Abed replied, the minute changes to his expression reading loud and clear as “relief” to Troy. “That’ll make the upcoming genre shift much more manageable.”

Troy smiled, before leaning in and pressing their lips together, cupping Abed’s cheek (well, mostly chin, due to the angle) in his hand, as the tingles he’d felt since the movie ended spread across his whole body. He figured the guy deserved at least one movie reference in his True Love’s First Kiss moment. Even if Troy had always fancied himself more of a Spider-Man than a Mary Jane.

**Author's Note:**

> why DID nobody notice the scarecrow got his math wrong?


End file.
